A telecom was organized on 26 August 2021 to discuss the preparation of the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) Training Workshop, which is to be organized in Spring 2022. Greg Cowie, Lynnath Beckley, and Jenny Huggett from SIBER and Bernadino Malauene, Roxy Mathew Koll and Juliet Hermes from IORP, and Jing Li from ICPO joint the discussion.

As there are going to be several capacity building activities in the Indian Ocean in the coming months, participants firstly tried to distinguish the different focuses of each activity, in order to avoid overlaps. The 3-day Western Indian Ocean Training Workshop proposed by IORP in close cooperation with SIBER and with support from POGO, will cover the following topics: 1) Overview of the WIO Observing Systems; 2) Observation Instruments and Platforms in the WIO; 3) Data access, Analysis and Management; and 4) Link Observation with Societal Needs. The best practice from SIBER on ‘Lab in a box’, a better link between observational scientists and technicians, and engagement of early career scientists will also be promoted during the workshop.

Meanwhile, in order to better coordinate the time with other Indian Ocean related activities to be held in the Spring of 2022, i.e. the 2022 Ocean Science Meeting, International Indian Ocean Science Conference and annual meetings of other programmes in the Indian Ocean, participants suggested to organize the workshop in late Spring 2022.

In the next stage, the group will start identifying the possible lecturers and groups of participants, preparing the draft programme and seeking additional support for the workshop.